The present invention relates generally to hand luggage and specifically to a combined luggage and portable shoe rack. Prior to the present invention, portable racks or shoe carrying cases have been devised for travelers to transport a plurality of pairs of shoes. These devices were designed specifically to carry nothing but shoes and representative examples include U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,705,150; 2,916,150 and 2,943,899. Another example of prior art devices is represented by U.S. Pat. No. 1,968,580. This device accomodates the traveler by providing a piece of hand luggage which includes foldable inner walls or compartments which could be used to store shoes in addition to carrying other personal luggage items. It also provides a means to fold away these compartments to permit the whole luggage compartment to be used for general purposes.
None of the prior luggage cases or shoe racks satisfactorily address the problem of the inconvenience for travelers carrying a plurality of shoes after one arrives at a given destination where the various pairs of shoes will be used. Utilizing the prior devices requires one to "live out" of the luggage case or to remove the shoes stored on the rack and place them loose at random in the closet or elsewhere in the room.
Prior to the present invention there was no device provided which functions as a combined luggage case and portable shoe rack having provision to store personal items and wherein the shoe rack was removable as a whole from the general carrier for conveniently serving as independent shoe rack during the travelers stay at his destination thereby providing a facile and organized manner of storing shoes for use as well as transport.